Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to “Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing”

Regular readers know that I think the concept of “private prisons” is one of the worst ideas a society can possibly embrace.  While I am a small government person who strongly believes in decentralization and doing things at the local level, incarceration is something that should never, ever be driven by the profit motive. Particularly not in a country which already has 5% of the world’s population, yet 25% of the world’s prison population.  From the Idaho Statesman:

BOISE, IDAHO — Idaho prison leaders are looking for a new company to run the state’s largest prison after Corrections Corporation of America admitted to understaffing and overbilling for its work operating the Idaho Correctional Center.

The three-member Board of Correction made the decision during a meeting Tuesday evening, opting not to let an automatic two-year extension of CCA’s $29.9 million contract kick in when the current contract expires on June 30, 2014.

The Idaho Correctional Center has a been rife with problems for the past several years, with inmates bringing multiple federal lawsuits alleging rampant violence, a policy of understaffing and a practice of guards ceding too much control to prison gangs. The ACLU of Idaho sued in 2010 on behalf of inmates who said the CCA-run facility was so violent that inmates called it “Gladiator School;” that lawsuit resulted in a settlement in which CCA promised to make widespread management and staffing changes. In 2011 the company reached a financial settlement with one inmate, Hanni Elabed, who was beaten by a fellow inmate until he suffered brain damage while several guards watched.

Now here’s the most ridiculous part.

After the meeting, Sandy said she wouldn’t rule anything out in the future, but that she didn’t think the state should run the prison because that would amount to an expansion of government and she believes in small government.

“That would be several hundred more state employees, and they would be on the state system, and it would grow the entire government by several hundred,” she said.

Van Tassel countered that the state is already paying for the operation of the prison, it’s simply giving the money to CCA instead of to its own people.

“We’re already paying for those employees,” he said.

That ladies and gentlemen, is how crony capitalism works.

For previous articles where I have covered private prisons see:

America in 2013: For-Profit Prisons Get Favorable Tax Breaks

America in 2013: Florida Football Stadium Named After a Private Prison Company

Full article from the Idaho Statesman here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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6 thoughts on “Idaho Dumps Private Prison Company Due to “Violence, Understaffing and Over-billing””

  1. ALL law enforcement in this country runs on a for profit basis PERIOD. these profits are generated through extortion and account for huge amounts of revenue for the state. and that is why we have this dynamic in play in the first place.
    it matters not in the least if it is done directly by the state or through the issue of letters of mark the effect on the public is identical and at least in the case of private companies and individuals they can be FIRED.

    don’t misunderstand I feel this entire dynamic is WRONG my point is that the private contractors are not the cause.
    the cause is the un willingness of municipalities to fully fund law enforcement and the other services with honest taxation and or abide by the strictures that this dynamic would impose.
    as with all things “statist” this is an issue of control not privatization of services

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  2. Good on Idaho. Hopefully, other states will do the same. All perverse incentives need to be removed from law enforcement.

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  3. All crime is commerce.The courts are for profit,as well as prisons.The government takes out bonds on inmates,as well as soldiers,who are no more important to the government than inanimate inventories (staplers,furniture,etc.).Welcome to Earth.

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  4. All prisons should be operated on a two tier system. Management of operations should be contracted out with all guards and prison rules to remain state mandated and controlled. The state or federal government is incapable of running on a cost effective basis. Politics and business management do not mix and never will.

    Reply

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